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Squirrels accounted for 28% of fiber cuts in 2010 for Level 3 Communications.[1] [1] http://blog.level3.com/level-3-network/the-10-most-bizarre-and-annoying-ca
by walrus 10y ago
Squirrels accounted for 28% of fiber cuts in 2010 for Level 3 Communications.[1]
[1] http://blog.level3.com/level-3-network/the-10-most-bizarre-and-annoying-causes-of-fiber-cuts/ http://blog.level3.com/level-3-network/the-10-most-bizarre-a...
- noobermin 10y agoIs there any reason for this? Do cables seem appetizing to squirrels?
- Coincoin 10y agoA squirrel made its nest in my shed once. Believe me when I say, everything seems appetizing to them. Just like a baby, except a squirrel will destroy it instead of drooling on it.
- lostlogin 10y agoBabies destroy things. You only have to scoop vomit out of a shoe, cheese out an electric window mechanism and fish DVDs out of the inside of a DVD player 6 or seven times to begin to get it.
- mjevans 10y agoI recall hearing that some of the plastic/insulation may have used peanut oil (or something that at least made it smell/taste that way).
- teh_klev 10y agoMight be something like this: http://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23/why-do-cats-lick-plastic-bags-and-is-there-any-harm-in-it http://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/23/why-do-cats-lick-... My cat is mad for a good lick and a sniff of a plastic bag. She doesn't actually chew them but does this strange chewing motion with her mouth, a bit like when cats practice their kill bite or chatter when looking at potential prey from a window.
- userbinator 10y agoMost plastic bags are polyethylene, and new ones in particular may contain small traces of ethylene, which has a pleasant fruity smell.
- Balgair 10y agoFrom wikipedia: "Rodents (from Latin rodere, "to gnaw") are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of unremittingly growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws" Essentially, life as a squirrel is an 'unremitting' quest to chew s%%t up.
- duaneb 10y agoI can't speak for squirrels. However, owning a rabbit, you quickly learn that rabbits like to "clean up" the cables (roots) in their den—so you have to carefully guard the cables so the bunny doesn't get fried.
- noobermin 10y agoOh dear, I was planning to adopt a rabbit soon. Lesson taken: keep him/er away from the computer.
- duaneb 10y agoIt's not as bad as you might think if you use e.g. pipe insulator to encase your cables.
- raelshark 10y agoOwning a rabbit isn't hard or dangerous to them, but yes - letting them have free reign of a room means completely bunny-proofing it. I've lost so many cords...
- colanderman 10y agoYou want this stuff: http://www.amazon.com/Install-Bay-Split-Loom-Inch/dp/B005V9UU1O http://www.amazon.com/Install-Bay-Split-Loom-Inch/dp/B005V9U... Of course they chew through that too, but it takes them just long enough that you can move the cable/distract them before they get to the cable itself. Also, our rabbit tends to ignore cables that are flat along the ground. Only diagonal ones that cross her path ever seem to draw her attention.
- rflrob 10y agoFwiw, after our rabbit ate through the insulation on a power cord, we looked for stories of rabbits being actually hurt by electrocution. There's a lot more stories of them getting zapped and freaked out than suffering any permanent injury.
- astrobe_ 10y ago
- maxerickson 10y agoPorcupines go crazy for salt: http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/03/30/believe-porcupines-eat-bigfoot-bones-outhouses-myths/ http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/03/30/believe-porcupines... I guess there's any number of reasons animals chew on things.
- marincounty 10y agoI've worked as an electrician, and a telecommunications worker. Ever piece of wire, I have ever touched is coated with some kind of slightly odorous, film of oil. I presume it's left over from the manufacturing process, or purposely sprayed on for protection, or pulling? I do know rats (rodents) will eat grease. I had a rat eat a tube of lube I use for my worm drive drill. I remember looking at that tube, and thinking that rat must have been hungry. Actually, a squirrel could have eaten the lube? I do feed squirrels where I live. Funny little guys. One used to rattle my screen door if I would go more than a week without putting food in their dish.
- mirimir 10y agoA telco worker told me that squirrels chew lead sheathing because corrosion makes it sweet. That's also why kids eat chips of paint containing lead oxide. I believe that it's the acetate salt.
- analog31 10y agoIndeed. Something ate through the little squeeze bulb that's for priming the carburetor on my gas powered lawn mower, and the spark cable and fuel hose have been gnawed too.
- mirimir 10y agoThat's probably some component of the rubber/plastic. Maybe a plasticizer. Maybe endrogenic. Or maybe, as others have noted, peanut oil ;)
- theoh 10y agoSounds like a job for the security apparatus. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002114.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05...
- ubernostrum 10y agoAlong with the associated network ops person's answer to the classic "what would you take with you on a desert island" question: A nice length of fiber optic cable. Once you're on the island, just bury it in the sand, wait a few minutes for the man in the earth-moving machine to come cut it, and then ask him how to get off the island.